By Robert A Emmanuel
As the European Union and the United Kingdom are seeking to tighten the rulebook for nations with Citizenship by Investment programmes, a former Junior Minister of Finance suggested that the programme was never meant to be long-lasting.
According to Lennox Weston on Connecting with Dave Lester Payne last week, the administration understood, as far back as 2014 when the programme was first established, that it was not going to a permanent revenue option.
“We knew that CIP was going to last 10 to 15 years maximum; when we had CIP, all of us had a lot of debates and my position was very clear: you could make a lot of money, it wasn’t the right thing to sell our citizenship.
“But when we got into power, the reality set in – we had IMF loans to repay and many things to repay with lots of money needed,” he said.
The United Kingdom has already laid out its concerns over the programme in its statement announcing visa restrictions, while the EU have begun to establish a committee to assess the due diligence processes employed in the region.
According to the websites, Immigrant Invest and Press Editorials, some of the proposals being discussed were the prohibition of advertisements by Caribbean countries of visa-free access to the EU, increasing or doubling the minimum investment sum, and increased involvement of highly trusted UK, US or EU firms for due diligence.
The St Kitts and Nevis government last week (effective July 27, 2023) announced an increase in their minimum investment sum on its CIP website, raising the lowest threshold of US$125,000 for donation and US$200,000 for real estate to now US$250,000 and US$400,000 respectively.
Additionally, the government announced mandatory interviews required at a consulate or embassy or an in-person interview on the island.
There has been speculation as to whether any other Caribbean country with a CIP programme could face a fate similar to Dominica—which Prime Minister Gaston Browne dismissed during last week Thursday’s parliamentary session.
“The history is that every time Caribbean or African countries find a means to make their way, the industrial world creates rules to kick us…we had an offshore sector in banking, [that was] wiped out and [they]brought all kinds of rules, so it was only a matter of time for this,” Weston said.
He also warned that the potential end of the CIP programme on the island would have dire consequences for the island.
“The payroll is thirty million every month to keep Antiguans paid, and if the Antiguan public service is not paid, the small shops and supermarkets don’t make money. So, you need that government pay,” he said.
“Then you need another amount of money to pay the loans before the State cannot borrow any money or do anything else,” he added, noting that the country could not afford a major reduction in its revenue streams.
According to the Prime Minister’s Budget Statement in March 2023, receipts from the Citizenship by Investment programme accounted for $88.8 million—nearly sixty percent of non-tax revenue.
Government expenses increased in 2022 to $1.08 billion with 2022 salaries for public sector workers reported at EC$423 million.
